Jock Dad, Nerd Son

Tends to be a High School trope. when a father was a jock in high school (usually marks his glory days) while his son pursues less athletic endeavors, usually to the father's disappointment. Related to a Billy Elliot Plot, but is part of the underlying characterization as opposed to a single episode plot.

Examples of Jock Dad, Nerd Son include:

Live-Action TV

• Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory often talked about how his father forced him to learn football.
• In Grounded for Life, Henry wants to sign up for tap dancing, but his dad pushes him to do a more "masculine" sport like soccer.
• Brian from Still Standing tends to be a nerd, and his dad doesn't approve.

Web Comics

• Inverted with Roy Greenhilt and his father, Eugene, of The Order of the Stick. Roy chose a career as a fighter class as opposed to a wizard like his father, which are seen as a jock and nerd class at least in universe. Played straight with Eugene and his father, Horace, who had inspired Roy's career path. Interestingly, Roy was apparently a nerd compared to other fighters.

Roy: Well I hate to break it to you dad, but this isn't the end of the line. More like half-time.
Eugene: What? How can you halve time itself?
Roy: *Sigh* I should have known a sports metaphor would be wasted on you.

Western Animation

• A constant source of contention between Steve and Stan Smith of American Dad. Stan constantly tries to help his son with various "masculine" activities to avoid letting Steve repeat the same poor experience Stan had in high school
• This is the case between Chicken Little and his father in the film of the same name.
• On one episode of Dexter's Laboratory, Dexter's dad tries to teach him how to do sports, but is always thwarted by Dee Dee.
• Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon would be this to his father Stoick the Vast. Scrawny little nerd-boy in a society of huge, fierce, dragon-fighting Vikings.

Hiccup: [sarcastically imitating Stoick] Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is a talking fishbone!

• One episode of The Simpsons shows us Prof. Frink's dad, who, although also an academic, is more of the Adventurer Archaeologist sort.